


Roommate Wanted

by venomandchampagne (sushibunny)



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9087394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushibunny/pseuds/venomandchampagne
Summary: Caroline needs a roommate and finds one in Klaus.But is that all she finds?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [misssophiachase](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misssophiachase/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this one :)
> 
> Many thanks to dani_grl82 for her suggestions!

When Caroline first put up the ad for a roommate, Klaus Mikaelson was the last person she had expected to end up sharing her apartment with. Sure he was hot- and he damn well knew it too as he sat there across the coffee shop table with a designer jacket, perfectly styled hair, and smug grin- but Caroline was looking for someone to share the expenses with, not someone to ogle; though honestly that didn’t hurt.

“So… You work in graphic design?” she asked, perusing Klaus’ list of info and references that she had insisted every applicant provide.

“Well, that’s a rather simplistic way to put it, sweetheart. I prefer to call myself an artist.” Klaus flashed her a wide smirk, one that Caroline was sure had caused more than one girl to swoon in the past.

She merely raised a brow. “But you work at Big Easy Designs as a graphic designer, right?”

“If you want to be technical-”

“Is that a steady job? I don’t have to worry about you flaking out on me in a few months do I?”

“I can assure you, love-”

“And do you always call people you just met by pet names, or am I special?”

“Well, you do strike me as exceptional, but it’s more of a British thing-”

“You know there’s a clause about ‘significant others,’ right? That they can’t hang around for more than a week or else they have to get out or pay rent- and trust me, they would not be paying rent, this place is small enough as it is. Though you don’t really strike me as the long term relationship type, so I probably don’t need to worry about that, do I?”

“That’s-”

“Well, as long as your references check out- and I will be calling them- I think we can make this work,” Caroline said, shuffling the papers in front of her into a neat stack before looking at Klaus expectantly. “What do you say?”

The bewildered look slowly left Klaus’ face, a smile eventually curling the corners of his lips. “I say this will surely be an interesting experience.”

He held his hand out and Caroline didn’t hesitate for a moment before shaking it, hoping that the gorgeous guy with great looking references was as good a roommate in reality as he was on paper.

* * *

 

It turned out Klaus as a roommate was a mixed bag.

He always paid his share of rent on time and was generally quiet and neat.

But he was also a major bathroom hog, and to Caroline that cancelled out all of his positive qualities.

“Damnit Klaus! I have to leave for work in ten minutes and my hair is still wet!” Caroline yelled, banging on the bathroom door in what had become a morning routine.

“You can’t rush perfection, love,” came the muffled reply through the door, making Caroline growl in frustration.

“I don’t have a billion years, Klaus, just ten minutes,” she grit out, shooting death glares at the white wood.

“You wound me, sweetheart. Perhaps if you hadn’t taken twenty minutes to shower earlier, I would have been out by now.”

“Oh don’t you dare give me that crap Mister I-take-half-hour-long-showers! _Every day_.”

Rummaging noises from the bathroom only furthered Caroline’s annoyance.

“It’s not a crime to want to be clean. Maybe you should try it some time.”

“ _Excuse you_ , but I shower plenty!” Caroline kicked the door in frustration, immediately regretting it when her big toe began to throb. Surely kicking Klaus would have been more satisfying- and less painful. She soothed herself with that image. “And washing your hair more than every other day is bad for it, for your information.”

“If you say so, sweetheart,” Klaus said, finally opening the door. In nothing but a towel.

It took Caroline a moment to regain the capacity to form words as her gaze traced the path of a few stray water droplets down his unfairly toned abdomen. “Well, I do. And so does science,” she stuttered, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to disguise her embarrassment.

Klaus gave her a slow smirk before skirting around her and heading down the hall towards his room. “Well, if _science_ says so, who am I to argue?”

Caroline couldn’t think of a comeback before Klaus’ door was shutting behind him, effectively ending the conversation (argument?). Deciding to just pretend that hadn’t happened and focus on getting ready instead, she quickly walked into the bathroom, pulling her hair dryer out of the drawer and plugging it in before something in the sink caught her eye.

“Klaus! How many times do I have to tell you to clean your damn hair out of the sink?!”

Yeah, definitely tipped the roommate quality scale into the negative.

* * *

 

Questionable bathroom habits aside, Klaus was actually pretty good for Caroline’s ego.

“These are to die for, love,” Klaus moaned, causing Caroline to blush- at both the words and the way they left those rosy lips.

“I told you I was a cupcake master.” Caroline set her bag of frosting down, having finished decorating the last one. “And you only get one! I told you, the rest are for Kat’s baby shower!”

“Katherine does not need fifty cupcakes.”

Rolling her eyes, Caroline smacked the hand that was inching towards another blue frosted cupcake. “They’re for the guests, not just her. Don’t be an ass.”

“I thought you quite liked my ass,” Klaus said, smirking at her from across the kitchen island.

Caroline ignored the tease at her staring habit- and really, who could blame her- and shot back with one of her own, which was becoming easier the more time she spent with Klaus. “Mm, but if you eat many more cupcakes it won’t be worth looking at,” she said nonchalantly, turning away to start cleaning up and hide her smile.

“You wound me, sweetheart!” he teased, coming up behind her at the sink. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll help you clean if you give me two more.”

Caroline pursed her lips in contemplation, pretending to give it a lot of thought- and also pretending to not notice the way Klaus’ gaze dipped down to her lips. “Hmm, one cupcake.”

“Two and I’ll help you wrap them up and carry them to the shower.”

“Deal.”

The ego boost was only overshadowed by the warm feeling she got when he smiled at her as she washed and he dried.

* * *

 

Another check in the negative column was Klaus’ poor taste in movies.

“We are _not_ watching _Fight Club_ for the fifth time, Klaus!” she groused from the couch, attempting to snatch the offending DVD from his hands.

“And just what do you suggest, sweetheart? Another viewing of _The Notebook_?”

“It’s better than yours! At least it has a hot Ryan Gosling! I can’t even enjoy Brad Pitt’s looks in yours! Like, what’s the point even?”

“The plot, perhaps?”

“Oh please, like you watch _Wild Things_ for the plot.” Caroline rolled her eyes, pushing up from the couch and walking over to peruse the DVDs. “Aha! Here, you’ll like this one.”

Klaus took the movie cautiously, looking at the title briefly before giving her a suspicious look. “ _The Princess Bride_? That sounds like another one of your terrible romances.”

“They are _not_ terrible! And this is different. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it, I promise.”

With one last frown, Klaus gave in, turning on the TV and bringing up the movie. He settled onto the couch next to Caroline, who placed the bowl of popcorn between them for easy access. She tried to ignore the thought that his hands lingered longer than strictly necessary when they brushed against hers as they both reached for the buttery snack at the same time. Or how they eventually ended up leaning on each other by the time the movie finished.

“So?”

“... It was good.”

“Ha! Told you!” she crowed with a wide grin, feeling her cheeks heat as he returned her smile full force.

At least he was open to improvement in some areas.

* * *

 

Caroline wasn’t sure though if the way Klaus tended to stick to his convictions should be in the good or bad column.

“No.”

“But it’s only for a week!”

“Absolutely not.”

“But Elena had to go out of town suddenly and no one else can watch him!”

“Caroline-”

“And look at this face! Who could say no to this face?”

The look Klaus gave her told her that the answer to that question was currently standing in front of her with crossed arms and a deep frown, but as soon as she pulled out her own puppy-eyes, tipping her head to the side in mimicry of the golden retriever puppy in her arms Klaus sighed, dropping his arms and she knew she had won.

“I promise you won’t even know he’s here!”

“I very much doubt that love,” Klaus said, shaking his head in resignation as he watched the puppy wriggle in Caroline’s arms until she put him down.

“I swear, I’ll feed him and take him out for walks and play with him and you won’t have to do anything!” she promised, reminding herself of when she had been eight and begged her parents for a dog.

“Mhmm, and what about keeping him out of my room,” Klaus asked, raising a brow.

“Oh, well, of course.”

“Uh huh. So where is the creature now, Caroline?”

It took her a few seconds to locate a small wagging tail disappearing into Klaus’ room at the end of the hall.

“Crap!”

Thankfully, it only took a minute or so to find and retrieve the puppy from the forbidden area- which Caroline totally didn’t spend a good thirty seconds snooping around in. Bringing him out in her arms once again she gave Klaus an apologetic grin.

“Sorry, I will watch him better from now on… Though you might want to keep your door closed.”

Klaus sighed but said nothing else on the subject.

Caroline set the puppy back down again, planning to go through his bag of belongings in order to find a toy to distract him, when suddenly there was a yellow blur pushing its way between her legs and knocking her off balance.

Right into Klaus.

“Are you alright, love?”

Caroline looked up, surprised to find herself held firmly in Klaus’ arms, saved from a hard landing with the floor. And had his eyes always been so blue? She’d never been so close to them before, but really, this level of brightness seemed excessive.

“Caroline?”

Shaking herself from her stupor, Caroline set her feet firmly back on the ground, reluctantly pulling back from Klaus’ grip. Her reluctance seemed to be mirrored by Klaus, his hands sliding along the length of her arms, seeming to attempt to maintain contact for as long as possible as she stood back. But that was just silly, right?

“I’m- I’m good. Thanks.” She turned away from that blue stare quickly, using the excuse of locating the troublesome puppy to avoid any further awkwardness- and to hide her blush.

Caroline needed to remind herself of her own convictions; mainly the ones about not getting involved with a roommate.

* * *

 

At least Klaus was good at reading people- or Caroline, anyway.

“Bad day?”

Caroline looked up from within her mound of blankets, eyes barely peeking out from the many soft layers. She gave a grumbled reply, shifting so she fell over sideways on the couch.

Klaus gave a soft chuckle and then he was lifting her head up so he could sit down, letting her head rest in his lap as he sunk into the cushions. It probably should have felt more awkward than it did, her head in her roommate of six month’s lap, but mostly it just felt… nice. Even moreso when he uncovered her head from her blanket burrito and ran his fingers through her hair.

“It’s just so exhausting, you know? Going to the same job every day, seeing the same people every day, doing the same work every day. Ugh, it just gets to be too much sometimes.” Caroline sighed, closing her eyes as Klaus continued to finger comb her hair.

“I thought you enjoyed your job?”

“I do. I like working in publishing, and Mystic Publishing is a great place, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes it gets… boring. Too repetitive. There’s nothing new and exciting in my life. Nothing surprises me anymore.”

Caroline would have gone on, finding it therapeutic to complain to someone willing to listen, but she found she couldn’t when she felt the soft press of lips on her own. Her eyes fluttered open in surprise, seeing Klaus hovering over her before she let them fall closed again, pressing up into the kiss- which became less hesitant and more heated at her response.

When Klaus finally pulled back she opened her eyes again, finding those bright blues looking down at her intently.

“Wow,” she breathed, lips curving into a smile as she continued to lock eyes with Klaus.

“Surprising enough for you, sweetheart?” Klaus was smiling, though she could tell by the pinched look in his eyes he wasn’t as confident as he tried to appear.

“That depends,” Caroline said, pulling a hand out of the blankets and reaching up to grip the back of his neck. “Is this a one time thing or…?”

“I hope not,” he said softly, eyes soft and open.

Caroline smiled. “Good.” And she pulled him down for another kiss.

Klaus definitely knew how to read her; and she hoped that would always be the case as she smiled into the kiss.


End file.
